Women's immersion programme intern Review

The insight programme has been extremely immersive with both desk time and class room time, this has provided variety making it enjoyable. We have also had networking events, with chance to meet people from all levels of the business as well as ones to get to know the other interns.

You feel valued at your time at Nomura because whilst you are sat on a desk you are made to feel like one of the team and people from all desks are willing to help you or answer your questions at any point even though everyone is extremely busy. You also have multiple events put on just for the interns on the insight programme. There is also networking events with MDs in the company and one on one chats with your buddy and HR.

During the insight program you are provided with so much guidance and support. You are supported by your buddy, a member within your division who you can ask anything to. Your buddy is generally on the grad scheme and so has just gone through what you have and so will have coffee catch ups with you and make sure your week is going well. You also have desk contacts who make sure that whilst you are on the desk you have stuff to do and give you reviews and you have weekly or biweekly catch ups with your HR representative.

For me personally the knowledge I have learnt will not apply specifically to my degree as I am doing a engineering degree and have done an insight programme in Finance. However, the volume of information and skills I have learnt will definitely help me after university as I now have a thorough understanding of how the corporate world works as well as better IT skills (course on excel shortcuts) and better business acumen. We also had soft skills causes which will be thoroughly useful throughout my life (debate mate)./

The insight programme is very well structured in terms of classroom time where you get to learn all sorts of soft skills to factual learning and general knowledge about all the divisions. The classroom is very interactive so you don't feel as though you are sat learning all day. You also get to sit on two different desks which gives you lots of variety and a chance to meet so many people from within the business.

The general atmosphere has been very warming with everyone from around the entirety of the company whether they are in your division or not being very welcoming and making time for you. You are fully immersed in daily life as are sat on the desk with employees going about their daily working lives.

Nomura invest a lot in you in terms of personal training and development, there are lots of external companies who come in to provide you with soft and hard skills as well as MD taking time out of their days to help run through case studies with you. You have regular contact with people across your division to help your development.

Nomura is unlike other spring weeks in that you are fully immersed and have the chance to sit on the desks and see what the daily life is like. This is an invaluable experience as you can't fully understand what it would be like to have a full time job at a company unless you are fully immersed within it.

The insight really helped me to understand the companies culture and values as you are fully immersed within the company. Additionally as the employees are always willing to make time for you out of their busy schedules it shows how everyone in the company wants to help you with your development and give you realistic advice as to what it really is like to work in the finance sector at a company like Nomura.

The content of the days was so comprehensive and definitely allows you to come to a conclusion as to whether the career path is for you. The ability to sit on a desk is unlike other insight programmes and so you don't just get the facts, you also get to experience your future day to day life and so is a truly valuable experience.

I was paid on a daily rate for my time at Nomura and filled in time sheets at the end of each week, there is also free drinks events and networking events with food and drink included. You are not reimbursed for your travel expenses to and from Nomura each day.

There were multiple opportunities for networking and meeting other employees at Nomura. There was multiple events put on including a sit down meal with MDs and also you have your buddy, desk contacts and HR all of whom would be more than happy to put you in contact with other people from around Nomura if you wanted to talk to or meet someone specifically.

The networking and social event opportunities were really well run as there was different types to suit everyone. We had networking events where you called walk round and talk to different individuals, as well as sat down networking events where you could chat to directors over a sit down 3 course meal.

Different employees can get involved in different activities outside of work and as you have multiple different contacts who you can meet one on one you have the ability to ask any questions that you would like to and hence can find pout about individuals activities outside office hours.

I would definitely recommend this insight to a friend especially over some of the others as it gives you the opportunity to see what daily life entails which other firms do not give you the opportunity to do. You are a highly valued member and gain a true understanding of the business and job as well as forming important business contacts for the future.